October 29, 2011 4:09pm EDTOctober 28, 2011 6:11pm EDTUSC can't play in the Pac-12 title game or in a bowl because of NCAA violations, so the No. 20 Trojans will be trying to derail the No. 4 Cardinal's title hopes.

An in-depth look at Saturday's Pac-12 tilt between the Trojans and Cardinal.

On the line

USC coach Lane Kiffin annoyed some Notre Dame fans when he said going into last weekend’s game in South Bend that it would be the Irish’s Super Bowl. Well, if that was accurate—which is doubtful, by the way—then this Saturday night’s game between the Trojans (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) and the Cardinal (7-0, 5-0) at the Coliseum can only be viewed as USC’s Super Bowl. The Trojans can’t play in a bowl game, after all, nor can they represent the Pac-12 South in the conference’s first championship game.

For Stanford, the stakes are much bigger and clearer. Like Wisconsin last weekend at Michigan State, the Cardinal—still new to the concept of huge cross-divisional games—are in danger of losing their footing in the BCS title race. One loss is all it’ll take to knock them out, as a single loss (at Oregon) did in 2010.

Sideline view

What people are slowly learning about Stanford is that its offense isn’t overly dependent on all-world quarterback Andrew Luck (1,888 yards, 20 TDs, 3 INTs). In last weekend’s 65-21 destruction of Washington, the Cardinal rushed for—are you ready for this?—446 yards and five touchdowns. Stepfan Taylor is averaging a hair under 100 yards per game on the ground. Of course, defenses can’t even consider loading up to stop the run as long as Luck is on the field. Stanford has the best offensive balance of any of the national title contenders.

USC is rolling with the run and the pass, too, though. Matt Barkley’s numbers (2,006 yards, 19 TDs, 4 INTs) are comparable to Luck’s, Robert Woods (72 catches, 902 yards, 8 TDs) is one of the most productive receivers in the country, and Marc Tyler and Curtis McNeal are a terrific one-two punch at running back.

Critical matchup

Stanford is tied for fourth nationally with 25 sacks. That’s nearly twice as many as USC has (13). Rush linebacker Chase Thomas leads the Cardinal with 5.5 sacks and will line up opposite Trojans star left tackle Matt Kalil at times. If Thomas can hold up his end of the bargain against Kalil—who has the potential to be the first tackle selected in the 2012 draft—then Stanford’s defensive coaches will have a lot of good buttons to push in order to put pressure on Barkley, who isn’t particularly mobile.

Sunday ticket

Luck’s a No. 1 overall kind of guy, and his counterpart, Barkley, could be a top 10 kind of guy. Kalil and Stanford’s Jonathan Martin are two of the premier offensive tackle prospects in the country. Be sure to watch the dynamics of the two quarterbacks and their protectors on passing plays.

The pick

Stanford 37, USC 31. The Cardinal have a 15-game winning streak, longest in the nation, and have won their past 10 games by at least 25 points—nobody else has done that in 75 years. They’ll keep one streak going but not the other this week.